This was 30 years ago, in the united states, so its not a matter of being trendy or trying to sound british. The words assure, ensure, and insure are among the common terms that are often misused. Get grammar girls take on assure versus ensure versus insure. May 17, 2016 to assure a person of something is to make him or her confident of it. Posey took steps to ensure that no one cheated at bingo. If a contract stipulates that the individual must insure something the. If we leave two hours early, i assure you that we will arrive at the concert on time. Assure, ensure, and insure have the same underlying meaning, but they each have a slightly different use. After reading this post, i can assure you will never misuse ensure vs. Grammar at a glance i bet you thought grammar couldnt get any more quick and dirty than it did in the previous pages, but heres the quickest grammar of all, culled from lengthier explanations found elsewhere in this book. To assure is to tell someone everythings ok, to ensure is to make certain, and to insure is to protect financially. Posey assured chester that no one would cheat at bingo.
Choosing between ensure, assure, and insure is something that gives first language english speakers a hard time, but the two words are actually very different. The rule that insure must be used only in the context of indemnifying against loss is one that has never penetrated to my subconscious. The words assure, ensure, and insure are among the common terms that are often misused and interchanged. Aug 25, 2017 ensure is subtly different from assure, and people often confuse the two. Grammar girls quick and dirty tips for better writing by. Of course no one wants to say thomas jefferson was wrong. When in a recent post i used the word insure in a context that had nothing to do with underwriting, more than one reader wrote to chide me for not using the word ensure ill confess. Especially in american english, what you insure is a business transaction.
Jan 14, 2019 ensure, insure, and assure are three of the most commonly confused verbs in the english language. These blankets ensure that youll be warm enough to insure is to cover with an insurance policy what you insure you entrust to a business. However, these terms should not be used interchangeably. Assure means to convince or to guarantee and usually takes a direct object.
With those definitions, i think three verbs assure, ensure and insure can fit the blank. Ensure means to guarantee or make sure of something. I need to insure my car with a new line of coverage. However, rather than using these words interchangeably, id like to point out the unique aspects of each word so that you can use them to. Ensure, a commonly confused word in the english language. They are interchangeable in many contexts where they indicate the making certain or inevitable of an outcome. A person can ensure that there will be prompt deliver of an item while insure is the only proper verb. Study up on the particulars of these terms and test your knowledge with our quiz. Choose your words although these three often show up at the same party, giving hugs, theyre not the same, thank you very much. David ensured his success by keeping complete notes on the process. Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, grammar girl s quick and dirty tips for better writing covers the grammar rules and wordchoice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. There are lots of english words which look similar to one another but diverge in meaning, often causing problems for those learning the language. Ensure, insure, and assure all mean to make a thing or person sure.
The three verbs are very much related to each other as all three of them deal with guaranteeing on thing or another. So, lets explore many thesauri list these as synonyms for each other, so that helps to confuse us further in general, to assure is to lend confidence, to ensure is to confirm, and to insure is to indemnify as with an insurance policy and insure may have legal implications. Of all the frequentlyinterchanged homophones, the two whose confusion riles me up more than any other are ensure and insure. Grammar girl provides short, friendly tips to improve your writing. The grammar girl podcast has also won best education podcast multiple times in the podcast awards, and mignon is an inductee in the podcasting hall of fame. To insure something or someone is to cover it with an insurance policy. Today, i want to clear up that confusion and outline the unique characteristics of each of these words. Top 30 commonly confused words homophones in english. The three words, assure, ensure, and insure, are often confused. Ensure, insure, and assure ask the editor learners. Strictly speaking, it is incorrect to use insure and ensure interchangeably. In turnaround, fha will insure mortgages with pace assessments reuters collapsed holiday company failed to insure against brexit fallout the times as long as you remember their di. Assign each word a oneword definition to make it easier to remember which of the three words to u.
To ensure something is to make sure it happensto guarantee it. According to associated press style, to ensure that something happens is to make certain that it does, and to insure is to issue an insurance policy. Ensure refers to the act of making something certain. I see these mistakes all the time, even from professional writers, even in published books and articles. The use of assure refers to a person as in the sense of to set the mind at ease. The constitution and its preamble were written in 1787, and the language, capitalizations, and spellings reflect the usage of the day. All three verbs have something to do with making sure and are therefore similar, but each of them has a distinct meaning. But the trio of assure, insure and ensure even confuse native speakers from time to time. Covering the grammar rules and word choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers, grammar girl makes complex grammar questions simple with memory tricks to help you recall and apply those troublesome grammar rules. Mignon fogarty is the founder of the quick and dirty tips network and creator of grammar girl, which has been named one of writers digests 101 best websites for writers multiple times. We are off to a running start in the confusion race.
Assure means to give comfort or confidence to someone. If people would just use ensure every time they want to use insure, they would be right most of the time. On its path from latin through french and into english, securus became simplified and took on a variety of prefixes, thus leading to the confusingly similar english verbs assure, ensure, and insure. I assure you, said the grieving widow, i ensured he was insured to the hilt. Ensure, insure, and assure are three of the most commonly confused verbs in the english language. Well go through what they mean, and how to use them. Assure, ensure, insure grammar goddess communication. Ensure confusing words and homonyms grammar and punctuation. Three oftenconfused verbsassure, ensure, and insure all mean roughly to make secure or safe or certain. All three verbs have something to do with making sure and are therefore similar. Nov 26, 2007 the three words, assure, ensure, and insure, are often confused. Your hard work will ensure that youll speak english correctly. When you get down to it though, there is an easy way of separating the two. It always grates on me when i see insure used where ensure would be a better fit.
Ensure confusing words and homonyms misused words in. Here is some advice given in merriamwebsters collegiate dictionary. Aug 14, 2012 my high school english class taught ensure vs. All three words are derived from the latin word securus, meaning secure, and they have some similarities in their definitions. To assure a person of something is to make him or her confident of it. Ensure is subtly different from assure, and people often confuse the two. The airport management took steps to ensure the safety of the passengers. Jun 08, 2016 ensure means to do what is needed to create a specific outcome. Ensure means to do what is needed to create a specific outcome. All three words share an element of making an outcome sure. Mar 18, 2018 voa learning english presents news, features, audio, video and multimedia about the u.
In american english, ensure and insure can often be used interchangeably. Heat the oven for 10 minutes to ensure its hot enough for your roast. Native speakers of english also have trouble with these words. The question of whether to use insure or ensure or assure has plagued the english language for years. Stories are written at the intermediate and upperbeginner level. However, rather than using these words interchangeably, id like to point out the unique aspects of each word so that you can use them to communicate your intention clearly. Assure ensure insure assure means to tell someone that something will definitely happen or is definitely true. What you ensure results from your personal efforts. Apr 17, 2018 assure is usually used in conversation, to help someone understand that everything is ok.
Ensure vs insure short explanation with simple examples. It means to make certain, to guarantee, or make sure something does or does not happen. When you ensure something, you are making certain that it happens or doesnt happen. If you ensure that something happens, you make certain that it happens. His latest book ensured his success as a novel writer. Ensure is subtly different from assure and people often confuse the two. Assurance is the guarantee that something will happen however insurance is the policy that covers up any losses. This may be attributed to how all three words can be associated with the sureness of an outcome. Only people can feel anxious or doubtful only they can be assured. I will cover the functions, definitions, and grammar behind each word, so you can understand their differences and use them properly. If your meaning is insurance of a sort against something happening, then you use insure.
Most of the time, though, you can clearly divide them into three separate definitions. We ensured the success of the plan after we assured the chairman that the property would be insured. Aug 26, 2008 get grammar girl s take on assure versus ensure versus insure. Theres a large overlap between insure and ensure when it comes to their definitions, and many people find it hard to differentiate the two. Some sources note that people use assure, ensure, and insure interchangeably. Insure deals with insurance, protecting something or. Other authorities, however, consider ensure and insure interchangeable.
Jan 20, 20 of all the frequentlyinterchanged homophones, the two whose confusion riles me up more than any other are ensure and insure. And as you note, ensure and insure have much in common. However, you can easily avoid confusion by remembering their distinct uses. They both derive from the same word meaning to make sure. Aug 19, 2016 the words assure, ensure, and insure are among the common terms that are often misused and interchanged. Insure definition in the cambridge english dictionary.
Even though they can be synonyms, one way to make sure of correct usage is to use insure to relate to financial matters and ensure in the broader meaning of making certain or safe. To ensure is to do or have what is necessary for success. Ensure means to make sure or to guarantee and insure refers to the financial service of insurance. The definitions of the three verbs assure, ensure, and insure overlap enough to make them synonyms in some cases. Reserve insure for talking about a financial arrangement meant to secure the payment of a sum of money in the event of loss or damage. In my book woe is i, i used this sentence to illustrate the traditional differences among them. Insure means to safeguard against loss or damage, typically through the purchase of insurance to do so. If a that clause follows the verb, you must use ensure.
Voa learning english presents news, features, audio, video and multimedia about the u. Also derived from securus are the english words sure, assure, secure, and security. Cindy used the teleprompter to ensure that she would remember her speech completely. But this is really a pretty simple conflict to resolve. Insure, ensure, or assure these three words have distinct meanings.
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